


Scars

by Maura_Moo



Series: Newsies tumblr fic dump [6]
Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Bullying, Characters Watching Disney Movies, Childhood Trauma, Cora Higgins is my best creation, Disney Movies, Good Older Sibling Jack Kelly, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Lion King (1994) References, Little sister Cora higgins, Middle sibling Race higgins, Not Beta Read, Other, Platonic Bed Sharing, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Platonic Soulmates, Scars, Short One Shot, Soft Jack Kelly, cora through the years, why scars shouldnt be victimised
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:01:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29525409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maura_Moo/pseuds/Maura_Moo
Summary: Cora is eleven the first time she sees herself as the villain.
Relationships: Jack Kelly & Original Character(s), Jack Kelly & Original Female Character(s)
Series: Newsies tumblr fic dump [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2168985





	Scars

The last day of school is meant to be an exciting, joyful almost thrilling time for children. With movies and popcorn and candy that sticks to children’s teeth as they chat and squeal with their friends.

However, the last day of school was never fun for Cora. Candy that she couldn’t eat and popcorn sat untouched on a paper plate, pushed to the corner of her desk so she could lay her head against her folded arms and hide.

She hated the last day of school, she hated movies.

Movies always meant villains. There always has to be a villain; with masked eyes and a troubled backstory and scars. There always had to be a villain like her. So when the teacher rolled the TV in and slid in a DVD. Cora felt her shoulders slump fearfully into her hoodie.

Disney should have been safe. She loved Disney but she could never stomach the Lion King. So as she sat, curled up in her desk at the front of the classroom she begged and pleaded and silently prayed for this movie to be different. That for once she would see her reflection in the playful and joyfully sarcastic Simba or her protectiveness painted so clearly in the eyes of Narla. And she did for a little while.

Before Scar appeared.

And it was like looking in a funhouse mirror. The long, messy hair and the sad eyes and the scar sliced so thickly through his right eye that it made her opposite scar ache. A foolish part of her wished that Scar would be different in the movie. That he would play some other role than the evil murderous brute.

But he didn’t.

She could feel the eyes of her classmates boring holes into the back of her skull. she could hear the cheerful, bubblegum muffled, hurtful whispers and Cora wished that the ground would swallow her up. But the carpet stayed firm under her sensible, smart shoes and she planted both feet steadily on the floor. To stay sturdy as she watched her predetermined future play out in front of her in clear pixels.

Cora is eleven the first time she sees herself as the villain.

She stands in the bathroom, pale face illuminated by the dim shades of the night sky. She stares at the face in the mirror, white cloth in hand. The fabric is rough against her face as she scrubs. She scrubs until the cloth is freckled red and her scars stare furiously back at her like she was staring tearfully into the furious fires of hell.

She tip-toes back to her room and into bed and crawls under the covers and dreams that tomorrow she will wake up and look like the other kids in her class.

But her eyes always open the next morning and she’s greeted with the same thick, messy scars and angry, demanding self-loathing.

Cora is fifteen when she meets Jack Kelly. He sits proudly on his red bike and smirks playfully when Race drags her out by her foot. He’s smart and cocky and makes her laugh whenever he throws tiny rocks at her brother while he pushes strands of blond curls out his face.

He never asks her about the scars or the way she flinches.

Jack doesn’t see Cora as a villain and it scares her. She wonders if he’s looking at her wrong or if he’s just blind. Because whenever the other children whisper she never hears Jack joining in. His voice stands clear and proud and bright like evergreen trees as he tells them to leave her alone. That she’s better than the other kids.

It makes Cora smile. She feels okay in herself. But with every new movie that comes out; that funhouse mirror reappears and Cora feels the loosely stuck-together bits of herself break apart all over again while she plants her feet firmly on the floor.

She’s seventeen when she moves in with Jack. With clear walls scribbled on like paper and mold growing in the corner of the bathroom, it’s a home. But Cora feels uncomfortable in the untrusting of her life. Sometimes, she lays awake with her fingers tracing the scar down her neck and around her shoulder and she dreams the same childhood dream.

To wake up and look normal.

To see herself as a hero.

It’s the light in the hallway that startles Jack awake one night. He pushes himself out of bed and grumbles to himself as he crawls down the hall to switch off the light. He sees her staring at herself in the bathroom mirror; eyes cloudy and face sketched on by the light of the moon.

Blood rolls down her face and drips timidly into the bathroom sink and stray drops soak down her right arm and he watches it drip off her twitching fingers like lines of early morning dew off a leaf. It spreads out and soaking into the gaps between the tiled floor.

He stands shyly, hands gripping at the doorframe nervously. They stare at each other; two pairs of hopeless eyes reflecting the same terrified funhouse mirror glimmer.

“I'se evil..aint I, Jack.” Her voice quivers like shaking violin strings. The corners of her lips threaten to betray her strength and she bites down hard enough on her bottom lip that fresh blood beads around her teeth. He rushes towards her and gathers her in his arms, capturing her as she crumbles.

Cora makes no sounds when she cries but Jack can feel her tears soaking into the thin fabric of his shirt and he whispers useless comforts into her hair. He lets her fall apart and shatters like tempered glass in his arms and when he feels her legs buckle he holds her closer.

They’re sitting on the floor, hours later, when the trembling finally stops and she pulls away to stare at him apologetically. Jack grabs a wet cloth and runs it carefully across her face and plasters bandaids across the freshly open wounds on the right side of her chin and her left eye.

“Hollywood is wrong bout a lotta things, Cora.-” He starts as he cups her face in his hands protectively. “Highschool aint full of twenty-somethin’s and scars don’t make ya evil. They make ya human. Ya went through having fuckin shitty parents and ya here, ya beat em and ya won this-this fight ya were fighting every day for four years. Hell ya still fighting it. But ya won.”

“I just wanna be a hero, Jack”

“Ya already are. Ya have been since ya were fifteen.” He takes her hands, squeezing them when she scoffs. “Ya, my hero.”

Startled green eyes look up happy and then confused. “w-what…why?”

“Cause ya saved me. Youse my sister Cora…I love you”

That night she crawls into bed with Jack and closes her eyes.

For the first time since she was eleven Cora doesn’t dream of waking up and being like everyone else.

She dreams of waking up and being Cora Higgins: Jack Kelly’s little sister.


End file.
